The Secret Supporters of the Boat Race

Hannah Gates's book The Secret Supporters of the Boat Race.

A new book has just been published about the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race. HTBS’s Hélène Rémond took a closer look at the book and asked the author, Hannah Gates, a couple of questions. Hélène writes:

Who are the secret supporters of the Boat Race?

You will get the answer if you read the first children’s book about the Boat Race, The Secret Supporters of the Boat Race, which is written, illustrated and produced by Hannah Gates, who graduated from London College of Fashion in 2008 with a degree in Fashion Photography.

Set during the 2003 Boat Race, which the Dark Blues won by a foot, the book captures the passion of the Oxford University BC, while providing a thrilling education for kids about the wildlife by the Thames.

‘Who knows, maybe it will inspire a few future rowing champions’, says Hannah. The book, aimed at 4- to 6-year-olds, tells the story of how the animals on the banks of the River Thames learn about the upcoming Boat Race, how they follow it and then celebrate the race.

‘How did you get the idea for the book?’

‘What spurred me on specifically was my partner, Robin Bourne-Taylor. He rowed for Oxford four times in some incredible races, as well as arguably one of the best ever crews when he was President in 2005’, says Hannah. ‘He was in the GB squad for many years and competed in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics as well as in various world championships. With some of his friends still rowing, and all of them still loyal in particular to the institution that is the University Boat Race, it inspired me to create this book. Moreover, a lot of them are having babies’, explains Hannah.

Hannah Gates grew up in Cambridge, spending a lot of time in the Zoological Department at the University and walking along the River Cam. She now lives in Ghana with Robin. Hannah is working as an equine and child photographer, as well as in branding and advertising. She has been a teaching assistant and private tutor.

‘You have produced the book yourself?’

‘Publishers were very keen on the illustrations, but didn’t want to risk investing in such a niche topic,’ Hannah says. ‘Obviously, I was not going to change the plot, but as a result I needed to fund the project myself. Therefore, I have promoted it as much as I can with the help of rowers, and I am inviting people to order copies by emailing a special account’.

You can order a copy of The Secret Supporters of the Boat Race by sending an e-mail to boatracebook@gmail.com (10 pounds excluding postage). Hannah is planning to produce more copies of her book, and many orders are likely to come in this Boat Race week. Book orders made now will be delivered in May.

Follow Hannah on Twitter @RowingBook and get more information on her website: www.hannahgatesphotography.co.uk

Sir Steve is Going Downhill

British Channel 4’s winter sports reality show is called “The Jump”, and believe it or not, one of the contestants is Sir Steven Redgrave who, although he says that he is ‘ten years too old’ to do ski jumping, decided to go for it. Yes, his wife called him Crazy!

But, as the newspaper The Independent wrote in an article: ‘Sir Steve, you see, is a bit of a skiing nut. Actually, scratch that: he’s a lot of a skiing nut.’ Read the article here. Training for another discipline, Sir Steve took a nasty fall, but luckily he did not break anything. 

Thanks to HTBS’s Hélène Rémond who sent this video and newspaper article along.

Head of the River Charles - in French!

Intérieur Sport - En 8 Majeur

The other day HTBS’s Hélène Rémond of France sent in a video from French tv-programme Canal+. Hélène writes that it presents a French elite rowers training in eights and taking part in Head of the River Charles in Boston. ‘By the way’, she writes, ‘in the video, the journalists refer to the Head of the Charles as the most popular race in the world. I would have said the Boat Race is the most popular.’ I can only agree…

The video is in French, of course, but if you do not understand French just sit back to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Mylène Paquette - A Very Brave Woman

After 129 days at sea in her seven-metre rowboat Hermel, at 11:09 a.m. local time on 12 November, Mylène Paquette arrived to her destination Cité de la Voile Éric Tabarly, Lorient, in France. Hermel had then carried her almost 2,700 nautical miles (5,000 kilometres) across the Atlantic from Halifax, Canada, to the French northwest coast. Mylène, from Montreal, is the first North American woman to solo row across the Atlantic.

Hélène Rémond wrote about this brave woman, who, believe it or not, has aquaphobia (fear of water), on 2 October on HTBS. During her four-month voyage on the Atlantic Ocean, her boat capsized several times and she saw enormous waves crashing over her boat while she locked herself in the small cabin of the boat. At one point she spent almost six days strapped to her bed, she told an interviewer for the blog C.G. Compass. After living in these cramped conditions, Mylène had problems walking on land when she reached France.

Read the whole article in C.G. Compass here.

Here is a short video clip (in French) when Mylène arrived at Lorient:



Thanks to Hélène who pointed us in the direction of the C.G. Compass blog.

Mylène Paquette on a Solo Row Across the Atlantic

Mylène Paquette is rowing across the Atlantic from Canada to France. Photo: Patrick Mével.

Hélène Rémond writes from France about the Ocean rower Mylène Paquette, who is right now in the middle of the Atlantic, solo rowing from West to East:

Canadian Mylène Paquette is aiming at becoming the first North American woman to row solo across the Atlantic from Canada to France, a distance of 2,700 miles (5,000 km). She departed on 6 July, 2013, from Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Halifax, Canada, and her arrival location is Cité de la Voile Éric Tabarly, Lorient, Brittany, France.

Mylène spends her days rowing while observing the environment to later testify the presence of the marine fauna and the essential interdependence between humans and the Ocean. Mylene wishes to become a credible environmental spokesperson.

Photo: Shaun Lowe

On 30 September she was half-way to France. You can follow her through her blog:

in French at http://www.mylenepaquette.com
in English at http://www.mylenepaquette.com/en/

She also shares her adventure with the public through social media, posting photos, videos, blogs in addition to other media interventions.

Follow her on Twitter or Facebook as well as other social media presented on her blog.

Bonne chance pour le voyage!

The Union Nautique of Liège Celebrates its 140th Anniversary

The entrance of UNL's club house.

Hélène Rémond writes from France,

As I visited Liège during my recent holidays in Belgium, I took the opportunity to stroll around the Parc de la Boverie where the rowing club Union Nautique de Liège (UNL) is settled at the tip of the island surrounded by the river Meuse and the Derivation canal, a 20-minute walk from the city centre.

The UNL boat house.

The Hennebique Bridge.

While crossing the beautiful setting of the park, the visitor can spot one sculpture of the Liège artist Mady Andrien called Le Rameur (“The Rower”), which was installed in 1998 on the Mativa embankment by the Derivation canal – a canal created in the 19th century as the river was hardly navigable for the large vessels which were used by the industries in the city.

Parc de la Boverie

Mady Andrien's Le Rameur.

One of the rowing events that the club organizes in May every year is La Boucle de Liège, commonly referred to as “La Boucle”. It is a long-distance race (close to 17km) with handicaps. It’s opened to all categories of rowers (from Wallonia or Flanders but also from abroad), and all types of boats are represented. The 18th edition will take place in 2014. The first three winners are awarded prizes and there is a huge barbecue for the participants at the end of the day.

“La Boucle”

The club also takes part in national competitions, and its members have raced in international regattas, too. In 1952, J. Van Stichel and R.M.A. Georges won the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. They were symbols of the national union as Van Stichel was Flemish and Georges was a Wallon. Club president Michel Orban says, “Today, Union Nautique is a popular club where young and older rowers from all walks of life practice rowing or sculling. We are offering beginners courses for children aged 11 and older.”

Van Stichel and Georges, winners of the 1952 Double Sculls Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.

UNL president Michel Orban.

Competitive rowing in Belgium was born in Liège
As the bridge of Arches was reconstructed at the end of the 1850s, the City of Liège inaugurated the new work of art by a celebration including regattas in the presence of King Leopold I. These regattas were organized by the Société Nationale Regatta d’Anvers, which promoted boating as early as 1858, and Sport Nautique de la Seine (in Paris), which was founded in 1855. These organizations were happy to promote rowing – as this kind of sporting event was new in Belgium. As the regatta organized on 29 October, 1860, was very successful, young people decided to found a club to encourage boating and to organize other rowing events.

This is how the first Belgian rowing club was born in 1860: Sport Nautique de la Meuse was founded on 18 November. The only boat the club had at that time was an iron boat, which was under cover in a barn, close to the Saint-Léonard embankment. A few months later, Sport Nautique bought a wooden boat from the Parisian club, the Gig Hébé, which had taken part in the first regatta in Liège.

The Schlemmer Restaurant used to accommodate the members of Sport Nautique de la Meuse. The owner of the restaurant was actually the grandfather of a president-to-be of the UNL, which was created a few years later, in 1873. Today, they are two of the 25 clubs affiliated to the Royal Belgium Rowing Federation representing the French-speaking league and the Flemish Vlaamse Roeiliga.

In 1867, the zoological park Parc de la Boverie agreed to welcome the Sport Nautique boathouse (a wooden shed that did not satisfy the members). Negotiations were underway to get a more convenient place to build a boathouse, but no agreement was reached. In 1873, the administrative committee asked the City for some financial help to organize regattas but the request was turned down. Sport Nautique had no teams to compete anyway and this is when Union Nautique de Liège was launched.

Venetian gondola at the 1905 World Fair.

The year 1894 saw the first match between the two clubs, a 3,000-metre distance race. 1905 was a golden year when the World Fair was held in the city. There were many events celebrating everything nautical at the Fair, including boat racing, and with splendid fireworks. The Parc de la Boverie was accessible thanks to the Hennebique Bridge. This also meant that new members found their way to UNL. The club welcomed women in 1928.

Painting of a UNL crew by Belgian painter Paul Daxhelet (1905-1993) (the link is in French).

Etching by Paul Daxhelet.

More information in French at www.srunl.com

Nathalie Benoit’s New Challenge: Rowing from Paris to Marseilles

HTBS’s Hélène Rémond writes from France,

In October 2012 on HTBS, French Paralympic Athlete Nathalie Benoit announced her new goal: ‘It’s not to row fast, but to row for a long time.’ Today, at 1 p.m., she will leave the port of Austerlitz in Paris for a 39-day trip to Marseilles, through Lyon (France’s three biggest cities).

At 33, Nathalie, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, wants to discover French inland waterways and share close relationships with people who will join her on the water in the 509 cities she will be passing.

Propelled only by Nathalie’s arms, the boat will run at an average pace of 5 km per hour, spanning more than 1,000 km and passing 174 locks. It means a total of about 300,000 oar strokes. One of the difficulties laying ahead is rowing against the stream of the river Seine, a distance of 90 km. It’s a unique performance never carried out before on the French inland waterways.

To fulfill her aim, Nathalie has been mentally preparing and training punctuated with chromotherapy and shiatsu sessions. Her challenge definitely demonstrates a huge amount of courage and perseverance.

To follow her progression, a map is displayed online at www.plmalarame.com/parcours/cartographie. Please feel free to send encouraging messages to Nathalie here.

For more information: www.nathalie-benoit.com or www.plmalarame.com

Hélène Rémond: Boat Race Day

Media crews at Hammersmith are getting ready for the Boat Race.

HTBS’s Hélène Rémond writes from the banks of the Thames,

It’s Boat Race day. The riverbanks were calm this morning before the storm expected this afternoon – as every year, there are 250,000 people gathered to support either Oxford or Cambridge, showing either dark blue or light blue flags or bambams offered.

Ready is also HTBS’s reporter Tim Koch.

In Hammersmith, Chelsey, Joe, James and Rachel encourage passers-by to be prepared and take part in the cheering during the race.



In Putney, the Bollinger Champagne van is ready to welcome thirsty spectators outside Thames Rowing Club…..

... and there’s just time to pass on security instructions...

Hélène Rémond: In and Around Putney

As soon as you reach Putney Bridge, you spot the banner: Which blue are you?

HTBS’s Hélène Rémond is also in London for The Boat Race. She walked around at Putney Bridge and Putney Embankment and took some photographs. She writes: ‘I took a few pictures that show how The Boat Race gets the attention of the passers-by in the streets, and how pubs and shops have taken the initiatives to make everyone enjoy this event’.

Pub in Putney for The Boat Race.

Happy Hour for the Boat Race.

Duke’s Bar

Artists' exhibition

Many members of the media, like Martin Gough, had to face the cold weather on the launches out on the river.


Late in the afternoon this Saturday, we witnessed a spring flood. As Clare Balding from the BBC wrote on her Twitter account: ‘The river [was] full to bursting in Putney. I’ve never seen it like this at #BoatRace time’.

Spring Flood at Putney

Putney Bridge - white and black

I met Rowan Lawson and his parents this afternoon. Rowan is a Goldie. This will be his second participation. ‘He started rowing at school at the age of 13’, says his mother. Of course, both parents are quite proud: ‘It’s awesome. It’s so much hard work and dedication. Rowers taking part in the Boat Race have to be so organized to get everything done: training and studying.’


An unusual image of a rower: Rowan, Goldie’s stroke, preparing the handle of his oar.

Rowan and his parents.

Row your boat not so gently...

Photography: Hélène Rémond

Trois hommes dans un bateau (sans parler du chien)

Hélène Rémond's interesting piece earlier today on the history of rowing in Brittany included a nice picture of a dog in a treble scull. The great coach, Steve Fairbairn talked about 'the endless chain movement' in the rowing stroke. Perhaps this boat practised the endless chien movement?  ~ T.K.

History of Rowing in Brittany

Hélène Rémond writes from France:

It is not possible to write about the current rowing activities in Brittany without mentioning the historical practices that form the foundations of rowing in Brittany. They are: sea fishing in dory boats and skiffs, as well as sea rescue and its mystical stories, and the sailing and rowing boats used by port pilots which have stood out in the history of rowing in this region for centuries.

The first rowing club in the region was the Société des Régates Rennaises which was founded in 1867 at the confluence of the river Vilaine and Ille and Rance Canal, at the Saint-Cyr dock. This club was also the first sports club in Rennes. As to the second oldest rowing club, Cercle Nautique de Dinan, it dates back to 1912.

Between 1867 and 1979 there were only these two clubs which offered the practice of rowing in Brittany. The development of the activities was expected by the appointment of a regional technical advisor in 1974. Five years later, in 1979, two new clubs – Redon and Quimper – joined the BAO league (Bretagne - Anjou - Orléanais, numbered on the old English map below).

In 1988, Brittany decided to stand on its own feet and got separated from the BAO league. Thus, the Ligue de Bretagne des sociétés d'aviron was born. From that moment on, it involved a development process, probably quite unique in France.

Departmental* committees gave an impetus at a local level, in terms of sporting activities and training of sports administrators. The implementation of a Pôle Espoirs – offering facilities to enable youngsters from 13-14-year-olds to 17-18-year-olds to combine their school curriculum with high-level sport training in the best conditions – training centers given a seal of approval, a national center for sea rowing, and all the organizations, have contributed to the emergence of Breton rowing.

The beginning of the 1980s was a turning point. Thanks to the unprecedented media coverage of the North Atlantic crossing by French rower Gérard d'Aboville (a 72-day crossing from Cape Cod to Ouessant, near Brest, 3,320 miles in an 18-foot boat), in 1981, led to a craze for sea rowing. After a boost given to sea rowing in traditional boats, a few enthusiasts got involved in the building of contemporary boats.

North Finistère has been the birthplace of this sport. This is where boat builders and the first sea rowing clubs settled. At the beginning, there was a limited number of rowers, but soon the organization of specific competitive events led to a chain reaction, with the acknowledgement of the practice by the Breton rowing league and the French rowing federation Fedération française des sociétés d'aviron which has regarded it as a fully-fledged sport.

For the sea rowing events, a triangular course has been unanimously chosen in order to row on different tacks.

In Brittany, clubs have acted boldly in organizing original regattas: cross-business challenges, a regional championship, open regattas, cross-university challenges, etc. Normandy, the Mediterranean, Atlantic and North coasts then joined in.

The first French sea rowing championship was held in the Aber Wrac'h, North Finistère, in 1997, whereas the first world championship was held near Cannes, in the south of France, in 2007.

Today, the four departmental committees comprise about 40 clubs and 2,300 members – among them are France and World champions. Brittany stands in the top 10 leagues of France (in third position considering the number of clubs).

People of all ages can practice rowing in the region. The offer spans from Olympic rowing to sea or river rowing (leisure or competitive) with school or university events, adaptive rowing and indoor rowing.

The Breton league aims at developing youth practice, reinforcing its organization and communication, improving the sporting level and the quality of the rowing events.

*Since 1790, France has been divided into 95 metropolitan “départements” and four overseas ones. Each is run by its own local council.

This text has been adapted from an article written by Ivi Ceillier, regional technical advisor at the Direction Régionale de la Jeunesse, des Sports, et de la Cohésion Sociale de Bretagne (Directorate of Youth, Sports and Social Cohesion in Brittany). Jean-François Botrel, president of the Société de régates rennaises, kindly agreed to share the photos with HTBS. The four included old photographs above feature the Société des Régates Rennaises from 1900 to 1920. The rowing club, which opened in 1882 in the west part of the city (Saint Cyr), moved to the east part of Rennes (Plaine de Baud) in 1977. Jean-François Botrel has written a text about the history of the SRR (in French) which will be found here.

My thanks to both of them.

See also here.

Desports: The First Sports Magazine to Read with a Bookmark

Desports, a new beautiful sport magazine with literary texts and historical reports.

HTBS’s Hélène Rémond writes from France,

On January 24, editors Adrien Bosc and Victor Robert launched a new publication in France, Desports. It is a "mook" (a mix of magazine and book) dedicated to sports which aims at offering literary texts, historical reports, stories and analysis not tackled in the news. In short, it is a work mingling sports journalism and literature.

The reviews in the French press acknowledge the demanding and intelligent writing Desports puts to the fore. Writers, philosophers and other intellectuals share their reports. In the first issue, the reader discovers Italian film director and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini’s passion for football, the story of the first boxing World Championship in 1916 which saw Arthur Cravan – Oscar Wilde’s nephew – and Jack Johnson in a contest of strength, and much more.

There is a list of the top quotations by Swedish football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic (who is currently playing for the French club Paris Saint-Germain), including the conjugation of the French verb “zlataner”, this neologism meaning “to dominate”. The issue also contains articles about cricket and Samuel Beckett, who was “better in sport than in English”, as well as artistic Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, and jumping over camels in Yemen, etc. Hopefully, there will be articles on rowing soon.

The 300-page magazine, which is published by Editions du Sous-sol, is a beautiful object in a hard cover, with thick paper, attractive typography and stunning photographs and drawings in an 18x24cm format – and no advertising. It is sold in good bookshops only, at 20€ in France and available online, too, take a look here or here.

The next issue of Desports is planned to come out on 24 May.

Desports is on Twitter @revuedesports and on Facebook.